Hey everyone
So my daughter is 5 and in kindergarten...I went to my daughter's first parent teacher conference last night.
A little background on her...I (as well as other family members) started seeing signs of advancement when she was really little. I just figured she was a fast learner so I started trying to nourish that trait in her. We did flash cards with letters, words, and pictures before she even learned how to talk. She started doing adult hidden pictures books when she was 2 and just showed a lot of interest in "learning" toys vs. "playing" toys. When she was a baby and started "babbling" I would act like she was talking...we would be in the car and she would just be babbling and I would talk to her like we were having a converstation...she seemed really receptive to this. At 2 she started talking...at 2 1/2 she could say the ABC's, count to 20, knew all colors and shapes. Her speech is what we picked up on. When she first learned to talk she would make simple senctences longer...like when she was mad...she would say "not so happy" and when she was 3 she looked at me and said "mommy I don't like this 'rule' thing"...when she said 'rule' she used her hands to make the 'quotation' sign. She also started picking up spanish on her own. She just used really advanced words that you wouldn't expect a 2-3 year old to know and she would use them in the right context. She took a keen interest in writing. Before she knew how to write letters she would draw a series of line (in the pattern of regular writing) and tell me that it was a story or poem and tell me what it said. By 3 1/2 she learned how to write letters and although they didn't make words she would group letters together and just write pages and pages of things. Then by 4 she could write her name and ask me how to spell things and know how to write them.
But again, I didn't want to get too excited. I mean every parent thinks thier kid is "advanced" or so smart. So I just let it go but kept trying to develop her interest in such things.
At her first kindergarten meeting before school started, the teachers were giving an example of what homework might consist of. They said "like for example, we may have them practive counting to 20"...my daughter leaned over and whispered "mommy we already know how to count to 20, we're 5"...she just assumes everyone else knows these things as well.
This past summer, she drew a map and labeled things like "the wall of China"! About a month ago, she went into her playroom...about 30-40 mins later she emerged with an 8-10 page book she had made...pictures and sentences, which she taped together at the edges to make a binder.
Well at anyrate...her conference was last night. Her teacher said everything I expected. All her spelling tests she got 100% on, her teacher said not one student in all 3 kindergarten classes had gotten 100% on ALL of them. They showed me her screening tests they did before school started and she scored way above average. She showed me writing she has the kids do during writers workshop. On every page, while other kids had written the basic simple sentence, my daughter had written compound sentences on every page. The teacher said she had absolutely nothing bad to say, she is a model student and often helps other kids when she is finished with her work. Her words were "You have a very very special little girl". She said at this point she is already ready for 1st grade.
I don't want to "push" to have her skip a grade, but I don't want her to get bored and either start to act up in school or start to dislike school altogether. As of right now she wants to do homework before doing anything else, and when we are done with that nights homework she wants to continue and do the homework for the rest of the week.
So I guess my question is...should I see how the rest of the year goes and start bringing up maybe skipping her a grade (as I would rather do it early rather than in middle school when kids want to stay with the same group of friends). Or should I start looking into "gifted" schools....the ones where you have to get accepted etc.?
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